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Michael Giacchino’s Werewolf By Night officially is bringing many famous mythical creatures to the MCU. Jack Russell and Elsa Bloodstone’s MCU introduction in Werewolf By Night is accompanied by the MCU debut of many mythical creatures made famous by popular folklore or horror movies and literature. While the MCU had stayed away from horror for a long time, the Multiverse Saga is starting to reveal the complex underworld that hides in Earth’s shadows.
Marvel is known for world-saving superheroes like Iron Man and street-level anti-heroes like Daredevil, but there’s also a huge variety of characters that belong to different comic book subgenres. For instance, Howard the Duck is the epitome of absurd comedy, while the Eternals embody Marvel’s high fantasy, and dark characters like Ghost Rider, Blade, and Werewolf By Night lead Marvel’s horror stories. These horror storylines are not only populated by original Marvel characters but also by mythical creatures from real-life legends and famous fictional figures like Dracula and Frankenstein’s Monster.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been catching up with the comics by drawing inspiration from real-life myths. For example, the Thor movies have brought to life several deities from Norse and Greek mythology, whereas Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings included traditional creatures from Chinese culture such as the adorable DiJiang and the nine-tailed Huli Jing. Phase 4 continues this trend with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which adapts Atlantis in the form of Talocan. Now, Werewolf By Night is continuing this trend by diving into the world of classic horror monsters.
Werewolves
The titular Werewolf by Night, Jack Russell is the MCU’s first official werewolf. Taika Waititi’s Korg had already teased the existence of werewolves with his retelling of Thor’s escapades alongside the Guardians of the Galaxy, which included Elsa Pataky’s cameo in Thor: Love and Thunder as Thor’s wolf-woman lover. However, Pataky’s character was a member of an alien race that only happens to resemble lycanthropes. Gabriel García Bernal’s Jack Russell, on the other hand, fits the classic definition of a werewolf: he’s a human who was cursed to turn into a wolf-like creature against his will. If Jack Russell becomes an MCU mainstay, perhaps he could eventually meet John Jonah Jameson III, also known as the werewolf Man-Wolf, who also walks the line between hero and villain in the comics.
Vampires
In Werewolf By Night, Jack Russell says he fought the vampire displayed on the Bloodstone manor. The opening credits describe this creature as “monstrum alatum,” which means “winged monster” in Latin. It’s evident that this is some kind of vampire more akin to Nosferatu‘s Count Orlok than Dracula. Curiously, the MCU’s first hint at the existence of vampires also came from Korg, who talked to Thor about killing “three vampires huddled together” in Thor: Ragnarok. After Werewolf By Night, Mahershala Ali’s Blade is expected to hunt down Marvel’s vampires, being part-vampire himself. In an interview with IGN, Director Michael Giacchino revealed that the winged monster displayed alongside the Nosferatu vampire in the Bloodstone manor is an enlarged version of the bat creatures used by Werewolf By Night villain Doctor Glitternight, a powerful sorcerer who can also summon zombies in the comics (via IGN). Technically the creature isn’t a vampire per se, but it could be put under the same category of bat-like monsters.
The Werewolf By Night opening sequence includes illustrations of Sasquatches and Wendigo, two kinds of mythical creature known for hiding in the North American wilderness. The opening sequence depicts the powerful Ulysses Bloodstone defeating a Sasquatch, also known as “Bigfoot,” by using the Bloodstone. Moments later, a Bigfoot head is displayed at the Bloodstone Manor. However, whether this head belongs to the same specimen shown in the drawing or if it was another exemplar is unknown. While similar to Sasquatch, the Wendigo are different creatures that have their origin in a real-life legend of the First Nations of Canada. They’re described as evil spirits that possess humans and lead them to cannibalism. Wendigos are usually depicted as decomposed deer. However, in Marvel Comics, the Wendigo are depicted as big Sasquatch-like monsters with white fur who often run into Hulk, Wolverine, and the X-Men.
Man-Thing
A major Marvel character introduced in Werewolf By Night is Man-Thing, a mystical hero who has headlined his own comic book storylines since his creation in 1971. Man-Thing’s real identity is Theodore “Ted” Sallis, a biochemist who injected himself with an experimental serum before falling into the Florida Everglades. This accident turned him into a swamp monster, but it also connected him to the Nexus of All Realities, which gave him access to any reality in the multiverse. The MCU’s Man-Thing is revealed to have a wholesome friendship with Jack Russell, and even though Werewolf By Night only showcased his physical strength, future MCU installments could make him a key figure in the MCU’s Multiverse Saga as a team player with the Avengers, due to his connection to the Nexus of All Realities.
Mermaids
Another creature shown in both the opening sequence and the trophies of creatures killed by the monster hunters in Werewolf By Night is the two-headed mermaid. Modern-day fiction tends to depict mermaids as beautiful half-human, half-fish women, but there are many types of merfolk in popular folklore and legend. For instance, the Sirens from Greek mythology have wings, while the Encantados from Brazil are male dolphin mermen that can shapeshift. Mermaids are also sometimes illustrated with two tails or two heads, the latter of which seems to be the case with Werewolf By Night‘s conjoined mermaid. The opening sequence shows an illustration of this creature attacking sailors, while also suggesting that an effective way to defeat it is to pierce its scales with a trident (which may or may not be linked to Namor a.k.a. Kukulkan, the “Serpent God”). The trophy in the manor covers the creature’s gruesome faces with masks, which hints at a more complex lore behind the MCU’s mermaids.
Demons
The white-haired head on the Bloodstone Manor may look like a Wendigo, but it is actually a different Marvel monster. In Michael Giachhino’s interview with IGN, the Werewolf By Night director revealed that this head belongs to Krogg, a demon with the ability to possess other living beings. Jack Russell had a brief encounter with Krogg the Demon in Werewolf by Night #8 back in 1973, where Krogg was quickly dispatched by Jack Russell in his Werewolf form. The MCU may have many kinds of demons, as the demon goblins from in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law episode 4 look completely different from Krogg.
Reptilians
Another Werewolf By Night trophy is a reptile monster with a rhino-like horn and a crest. This creature has no clear mythical counterpart, so it could be anything from a basilisk to a unique type of dragon. The MCU has the freedom to connect this reptile monster to any Marvel species such as the alien race Zn’rx a.k.a. Snarks, the Saurids, or the Savage Land’s Gorankians and N’Galans. This reptile creature can also be the MCU’s stand-in for Curt Connors a.k.a. The Lizard, who befriended Ted Sallis before he turned into Man-Thing in the comics. Originally, both scientists tested experimental serums on themselves, to disastrous results. Given that the MCU’s Curt Connors was cured and sent back to his home reality in Spider-Man: No Way Home, a new reptile scientist would come in handy for Man-Thing’s MCU origin story after his introduction in Werewolf By Night.
Gremlins
The last monster hinted at in the horror-inspired Werewolf By Night is a creepy goblin-like creature with huge eyes and pointy ears. Like the reptile monster, this specimen doesn’t seem to have a single mythological source. Instead, it looks like an original blend between a modern Gremlin and a Namahage from Japanese folklore. The Gremlin inspiration is clear in the shape of the ears and the spiky hair on top of its head, while the Namahage influence is manifest in its big diverging eyes and prominent tusks. According to traditional Japanese folklore, the Namahage are demon-like ogres who haunted lazy or disobedient children. Until Marvel Studios dives further into this new species of monsters, it could be said that Gremlins are part of the horror creatures made MCU canon in Werewolf By Night.
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